Railway car construction



Aug- 3, 1937- H. s. BROWN 4 2,088,835

- RAILWAY CAR CONSTRUCTION Filed oct. 14. 1955 ll Tl. T IlL,

. for work cars.

Patented Aug. 3, 1937 i RAILWAY CAR CONSTRUCTION Hugh` S. Brown, Harvey, Ill., assignor to The Buda Company, Harvey, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application' October 14, 1935, Serial N0. 44,820

5 Claims.

`This invention pertains to improvements vin railway vehicles., and particularly to improvements in the construction of rail skids and brakes `Railway work cars of necessity must be so constructed that they -can be removed quickly and easily from the rails, in order to allow thepassage of trains, hence for some time it has been customary to provide rail skids under the work cars to facilitate their removal from the tracks. It has been the practice heretofore to have a pair of rail skids extending longitudinally of the work car and lying well within the area between the rails. However, due to the fact that such rail skids must be high enough to clear switch tracks and loose planks at crossings, these rail skids have been positioned so high that it always required considerable effort when the rail skid was lying on either rail to lift the car high enough thereafter, to allow the flanged wheels of the Work car to pass over the rail.

According to this invention, the rail skids are so positioned on the work cars that they overlie the rails themselves and may therefore be lower with reference to the plane of the top of the rails than has heretofore been possible, because no crossing planks will be projecting up into the area over which the rail skids normally pass, and of course neither will any switch tracks or frogs extend up into that area. Hence it is not necessary to lower the work car very much to place the rail skids on the track rail, nor is it necessary to raise the work car much thereafter to clear the Wheels.

The general object of the invention, therefore, is to attain in a new arrangement of rail skids for Work cars or other such vehicles the above advantages above enumerated and others hereinafter mentioned.

Referring now to the drawing:

Fig. 1` is a perspective View of a work car equipped in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation in detail of the construction shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a partial plan View of the portions shown in Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional View on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Referring further to the. drawing, af work car, generally designated by the figure I, is shown resting upon rails 2 and 3 of a` railway. The wheels 4 and 5, shown on one side of the car, are connected with the frame members E and I in any suitable manner. Between these wheels and overlying the rail 3 is a rail skid 8 which is (Cl. MI5- 162) formed of angle iron material and is suitably connected as by rivets to the vertical members 9 and IIJ, the latter being rigidly connected at their upper ends with the transverse angle iron members II and I2. Inclined braces I3, I4, I5, and I6, connected as shown, serve to support the rail Skid 8 rigidly.

It will be understood that a similarly constructed rail skid is mounted on the opposite side of the. car in a similar position.

Rods I'I and I8, suitably connected rigidly with the transverse members II and I2, furnish pivotal supports for hangers I9 and 20 for brake shoes 2| and 22.

Adjustable rods 23 and 24 are connected, as shown, to a bell crank 25, the latter being keyed on a shaft 26 supported from the bracket 2l. Rotation of the bell crank downwardly from the position shown will straighten out the toggle formed by the rods and apply the brakes.

It will be noted that the longitudinal margins of the rail skid 8 lie within the area of the rail head and throatway over which the flanged car wheels move and the major portion of this skid lies over the rail itself, hence if the track provides ample clearance for the wheels it must necessarily pr-ovi-de clearance for the rail skid. Projections from the roadbed which .do not interfere with the wheels cannot interfere with the rail skid. Accordingly, the rail skid may be placed very close to the level of the top of the rails without danger of being interfered with by roadbed or track projections during the normal running of the work car.

When a work car equipped in accordance with this invention is turned with its longitudinal axis perpendicular to the rails, the work car will drop only a short distance, for example, about one inch, instead of three or four inches which was necessary when rail skids formerly have been mounted with their under surfaces. just below the wheel axles. Raising the car on" a rail skid to pass the wheels over the rail becomes, therefore, a simple matter.

It should be understood that the disclosed embodiment illustrates merely one form of the invention, while other forms and modifications of the invention are contemplated and included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Having shown and described my invention, I claim:

1. In combination with a railway vehicle having front and rear wheels on one side thereof and brake shoes positioned between said Wheels and to said vehicle extending longitudinally between said Wheels having its ends terminating close to the wheels below the level of said brake shoes, said skid overlying the track rail and having its entire length and longitudinal margins lying within the area between vertical planes contiguous to the outer and inner faces of said wheels.

2. In combination with a railway vehicle having a longitudinal side frame and a pair of wheels positioned outside thereof, support members secured to said frame member extending laterally therefrom adjoining said wheels, and a rail skid secured to said support members and having a plane skid surface suspended slightly above the track Vrail and lying wholly within the area between vertical planes contiguous to the inner and outer margins of said wheels and extending uninterruptedly from a point adjacent the surface of one wheel to a point adjacent the surface of the other wheel.

3. In combination with a railway vehicle having a longitudinal side frame and a pair of wheels positioned outside thereof, support members secured to said frame member extending laterally therefrom adjoining said wheels, a rail skid secured to said support members and having a skid surface suspended slightly above the track adjoining each said wheel, a rail skid securedv rail and lying wholly within the area between vertical planes contiguous to the inner and outer margins of said wheels, and brake shoes suspended from said support members laterally outside of said rail skid.

4. In combination with a railway vehicle, a rail skid supported on the vehicle providing a bottom skid surface suspended only slightly above the track rail extending longitudinally from a point adjacent a front wheel uninterruptedly to a point adjacent a rear wheel on the same side, said skid surface having its longitudinal margins lying within the area defined by vertical planes contiguous to the outer and inner faces of said wheels.

5. In combination with a railway vehicle, a rail skid and support means securing the same to the vehicle, said skid depending from the lowermost portions of said support and having a bottom plane surface positioned only slightly above the track rail and extending uninterruptedly from a point adjacent a front wheel to a point adjacent a rear wheel on the same side, said skid surface having its longitudinal margins and entire extent lying wholly within the area defined by vertical planes contiguous to the outer and inner faces of said wheels.

HUGH S. BROWN. 

